Le Havre, Magpies tussle over Nzogbia

LE HAVRE (France): French second division club Le Havre have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over what it sees as Newcastle's illegal poaching of one of their players.

Le Havre say teenager Charles Nzogbia, who had been formed at the club since the age of 11, is at the English Premiership side illegally.

Newcastle played the 18-year-old in their 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield Road on Sunday following a decision by FIFA last week which appeared to give the English side the green light to do so.

However Le Havre believe that Newcastle have the player on their books illegally.

CAS already said in an Oct 7 statement the teenager was still officially linked to his French club because he had signed a de facto contract while he was being trained there.

According to the agreement he signed, which expires on June 30 2006 and is subject to French law, Nzogbia should have made his professional debut at the club which trained him and he should therefore not even be available to sign for another club.

Nevertheless, FIFA last week gave the benefit of the doubt to Newcastle, which has in turn forced Le Havre to take their dispute to another level.

According to press reports in England, Newcastle had been ready to pay Le Havre 357,000 euros compensation for Nzogbia. – AFP